Photos by Cristin Powers

Allen Builders & Landscape is in Hamlin, PA – a bit east of Scranton and not far south of the New York border. The four-season service firm was founded in 1997 by Matthew Allen, who emphasizes that it was winter rather than summer work that inspired his start: "I really started with snow. When I got my first truck, my goal right away was to get a plow." His love of snow work actually began much earlier, riding along at the age of 6 when his grandfather was plowing. "He had a 1973 F250 – with the Ranger package – and a Western plow," Allen recalls vividly.

Allen Builders & Landscape provides a complete array of landscape services (from hardscape and outdoor kitchens to lighting and water features); interior services (such as painting, flooring and door/window installations); and even a retail store that sells everything from candles to stone/mulch to Amish-built sheds.

With the wide mix of services that the company performs, snow is the most profitable and accounts for the biggest portion of income. For that reason, and because it’s where he got his start, Matt says: "If there was one part of the business that I would never give up, it would be snow."

Growing a family and a business
While the company started as a one-man operation, it has grown as its service offerings expanded. There are now 6 to 10 field staff crew members, as well as a dedicated office staff of 3 full-time and one part-time employees. The most crucial staffing addition came in 2003, when Matt married Charmaine (she actually began plowing with him a couple years earlier). Since then, the Allens have operated the business as a couple, and have found some success in maintaining their relationship while also working together.

Charmaine deals with the accounts and routing and scheduling; Matt handles the equipment and operations side of the business. The couple says that this division of duties has helped keep things running smoothly in a family business where husband and wife are working closely together.

"That wasn’t always the case. It used to be that we would always be in one another’s business," Charmaine says. Each of them was doing a little bit of everything, and that proved not to be efficient or effective. By dividing duties and focusing mainly on their specialized areas, efficiency has improved and the chance for duplication or disagreement goes down. "We still argue sometimes!" jokes Charmaine, "but this approach has proven to be a lot better."

Their daughters are also involved with the business. Taylor Haggerty is chief operating officer, but she started on a sidewalk crew and is a leader when it comes to jumping into a plow or a skid steer or doing whatever is needed. On occasion a new employee will come in with the assumption that, as a young woman, Taylor is not cut out for the difficult job of snow work. They soon learn differently.

"When we’re in the midst of a 36-hour storm, and some employees are completely worn out just six hours in, she’s the one who keeps going," Matt marvels. "She understands the importance of doing a good job for the clients, and how that reflects on the company." Taylor’s sister, Courtney Haggerty, has worked at the company; she was on a sabbatical last winter but still came back and plowed when needed.

IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS
Allen Builders & Landscape emphasizes to its employees that details make the difference. In fact, the company’s mission is focused on DETAILs:



The company works to keep employees feeling rewarded and engaged using these principles and believes that clients will notice the difference that details make in the work they perform.

Charmaine Allen says that’s true not only in the summer (a new patio or outdoor kitchen or painting job is obviously dependent on a lot of fine details), but also in the winter. "People don’t realize it, but there’s a lot of detail involved with snow removal. Knowing where the drains are, where the curbs are, where the snow goes, sidewalk work," she explains. "That’s why we have employees walk rather than drive the sites after they’re done – you pick up a lot of things when you’re walking that you don’t when you’re in a vehicle."

Target market
In the early years, the business focused on residential driveways. But Matt says that in their area, many driveways are gravel and many residents are gone in the winter, so that market is tough. "It’s better for someone just getting started. That’s where I once was, so I understand that." The company’s winter focus now is on local commercial accounts.

There aren’t a lot of big box stores in their area, but there are a growing number of large warehouses and distribution centers. None of those holds a lot of appeal for them. "We would need bigger equipment, and to find employees capable of running that big equipment is difficult in this area," Matt says. "And from what I hear in the industry, the prices are being driven down more and more on those kinds of accounts."

"We also like the loyalty of working with local business owners. There isn’t always a lot of loyalty when you’re working with chains," Charmaine says. That philosophy extends to their desire to buy from smaller businesses and American-owned companies, like Stork’s Plows, whenever possible. In town, the Allens have become good friends with local owners whose businesses they patronize and who in turn use them as snow service providers.

Investing pays off
One of the limitations of working in an area with fewer people is that recruiting employees is that much more difficult. "Finding employees has always been a challenge in this area," Matt says. "That challenge has only intensified." Finding "bodies" isn’t even the biggest problem; it’s finding people who can do good work, he says.

To help overcome the shortage of employees, Allen Builders & Landscape found that upgrading its equipment fleet, which now includes skid steers, for example, has allowed them to get more work done with fewer people. "If you can do a job with one person that used to take two, that’s a good piece of equipment to invest in," Charmaine says.

Matt says equipment investments have paid off in other ways. "We try to have trucks that are newer, and to make sure they look good," he explains. "If you show up at a client’s property and have a truck that looks like the door is falling off, or that it’s backed into things a hundred times, they’re going to think, ‘If that’s how they take care of their own trucks, how are they going to take care of my property?’ "

Some years back, the couple sat down to analyze equipment expenses. They looked at the costs of repairs to older equipment.

"Matt can fix anything, but we had to stop to consider how much it was really costing us to have him fixing a truck rather than out there working and generating money," Charmaine says. Even when equipment was brought to a service shop, the costs were unpredictable. In the end, Charmaine says she realized that "I can budget for a monthly payment, but I can’t budget for endless repairs on older equipment. It was scary, making those investments as a smaller company," she says. "But it has paid off."



Matt agrees that this was an important decision, financially and operationally: "In attending SIMA workshops and hearing even from really large companies that some had switched from having their own crew of service technicians to simply taking the equipment in for maintenance and repair. I realized that we needed to focus on doing what we do well and be out there performing services for clients and generating income."

He adds that newer equipment is more likely to work well and be ready when snow comes. "Even new equipment can break. We still have repairs that need to be done. But if you can minimize the chances of breakdowns as much as possible, it’s a huge advantage."

Embracing technology
Just as equipment advances have helped the smaller company improve efficiency, adopting technology has also been vital. "We’ve tried to make as much of a leap forward as we can," Matt says. The rural area lends itself to a lot of dead areas for cell phone coverage, but the company equips employees with smartphones and uses a variety of apps and programs to run its operations. "We’re not a $10 million or $100 million a year company that can afford to build its own app; but we have found technology that works for us," he adds.

Until a few years ago, the company was paper-only. It is now largely digital but still maintains paper backup records.

It took some trial and error ("we tried a lot of apps, and they all failed for one reason or another," Charmaine says), but eventually the company found an app that worked for them. The main digital technology it uses is CompanyCam, which Charmaine says has worked well for them on both snow and landscape accounts.

"It does things like geotagging and time-stamping on pre- and post-work photos that the field crew takes; it allows them to draw on the photos, or add notes if there were cars parked in a corner that they couldn’t service, for example," she explains. And if service isn’t available at a particular property, or due to storm conditions, the photos can be stored and uploaded later.

Charmaine says she doesn’t foresee a time when the company will ever move completely away from paper, but digital technology will likely be an increasing part of the company’s operations moving forward:

"We’re always trying to grow, and technology will help us with that. But growing doesn’t always mean getting bigger; it can also mean getting better."